Thanks to horror writers like Anne Rice, vampires are a lot more than just bloodsuckers. They can be sultry, seductive monsters whose immortality helps them preserve their good looks and sex appeal. In fact, vamps ooze eroticism in order to lure their victims in, who are in turn too enchanted by their pursuers to fight back.
While the vampire genre took off with the release of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, about the infamous Romanian count with series bloodlust, other iconic vampires have since come forth, fanged nightwalkers who have really perfected the come-hither look. This list brings together the five most seductive female and five most seductive male vampires in movie history.
Lucy Westenra In Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
In Francis Ford Coppola’s divisive 1992 adaptation of Stoker’s novel, Sadie Frost gives Lucy Westenra a libidinous allure. As the best friend of Mina Harper, Lucy is a young woman with multiple suitors who becomes Count Dracula’s first victim when he arrives in England. Dracula, played by Gary Oldman, is in pursuit of Mina, who he believes to be the reincarnation of his old love.
With her Victorian gowns, orange curls, and fair skin, Lucy makes a very captivating vampire. Unfortunately for her, Dr. Van Helsing arrives on the scene to take out Dracula, and she gets a stake through the heart.
Louis De Pointe Du Lac In Interview With the Vampire (1994)
Brad Pitt plays a centuries-old vampire in this adaptation of an Anne Rice novel. Louis is transformed by Lestat de Lioncourt in 1791 Spanish Louisiana, and the two travel the world together in search of food and livelihood. Unlike Lestat, Louis is a sensitive and contemplative vampire who comes to regret his choice to become an immortal entity.
Pitt plays on Louis’s disposition through glances, facial expressions, and gestures. With his long hair, striking eyes, and colonial garb, Louis is one swoon-worthy vamp.
Clara Webb In Byzantium (2012)
In this fantastical British film from Neil Jordan, a pair of vampires who happen to be mother and daughter are constantly on the run from others of their kind while also disguising their true nature from the humans around them. Saoirse Ronan plays the daughter, Eleanor, and Gemma Arterton plays the mother, Clara.
Clara and Eleanor have both been victimized by the men around them time and time again over the centuries. While Eleanor tries to practice kindness in the present, Clara has no interest in being considerate, slaying humans whenever she pleases. Clara baits men with her form-fitting outfits and long, black locks, beckoning them to her lair in order to ambush them with their pants down.
Adam In Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
Easy-on-the-eyes British actor Tom Hiddleston plays an ancient vampire holed up in his Detroit mansion in this Jim Jarmusch film. As Adam, Hiddleston dons shaggy, shoulder-length hair and prefers to keep his clothing minimal.
Adam has become a depressed, withdrawn man dismayed by the nature of contemporary society. Over the centuries, he influenced countless musicians and scientists, even becoming a famous musician himself. However, over a fear of being exposed as a vampire, Adam must remain a recluse and only ventures out in the early pre-dawn hours. Otherwise, he passes time in the most goth ways imaginable: by collecting rare musical instruments and pouting in dark corners.
Akasha In Queen Of The Damned (2002)
The talented musician and performer Aaliyah, who died at 22 in a tragic 2001 plane crash, plays the first vampire, Akasha, in this sizzling adaptation of Anne Rice’s novel. With her intricate and embellished jewelry, including an elaborate headpiece and a metal smithed body piece that fits her form perfectly, Akasha gives her kind a good name.
As the Queen, Akasha moves like royalty, demanding absolute loyalty from other vampires or else. When she’s awoken after being asleep for many centuries, she pursues the vampire Lestat, played by Stuart Townsend, with a passionate insistence until he agrees to be her King.
Michael Emerson In The Lost Boys (1987)
In Joel Schumacher’s popular vampire feature, Jason Patric plays the achingly attractive reluctant vampire Michael Emerson. A quiet, motorcycle-riding teen, Michael moves to Santa Clara, California with his mother and brother. He falls for a girl named Star, who is involved with a gang of vampires.
After a motorcycle race against Star’s sort-of boyfriend David Powers, played by Keifer Sutherland, goes south, Michael wakes up in his own bed to discover he’s been transformed into one of the bloodsuckers. Michael discovers that killing the head vampire will return him back to normal, so he goes on a mission to take them all out while struggling with his new abilities and urges.
Miriam Baylock In The Hunger (1983)
French actor Catherine Deneuve plays an ancient vampire who has been around since the days of the Egyptian empire in this cult classic that combines noir vibes and erotica. Miriam has survived the millennia by taking on lover after lover, both male and female, and her current one is a cellist played by David Bowie, who has been with her for two centuries.
They live in New York City disguised as music tutors, and they dispose of their victims in their building’s incinerator. Miriam and John seduce person after person until a gerontologist played by Susan Sarandon comes into the picture and changes everything.
Deacon Frost In Blade (1998)
It turns out Stephen Dorff makes quite an alluring vampire. As Deacon Frost, Dorff proves to be a formidable opponent to Wesley Snipes’s Blade, the title character of the film trilogy inspired by the comic book series.
Frost is an ambitious vampire who owns a Detroit dance club and lives in a giant penthouse. With the support of other young vampires like himself, Frost stages an uprising that involves stripping the elder vampires of their authority. His ultimate goal is to enslave the human race. Blade, who has one foot in the human world and one in the vampire world, won’t let this happen.
Santanico Pandemonium In From Dust Till Dawn (1996)
Salma Hayek plays a dancer at the Titty Twister in Robert Rodriguez’s exploitation feature From Dusk Till Dawn. George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino play a pair of violent cons who just robbed a bank, and they kidnap a family on an RV vacation, forcing them to drive to Mexico, where they hope to get away from police.
The group ends up at the Titty Twister, and when Santanico Pandemonium hits the stage. Her irresistible performance with a yellow boa constrictor soon turns deadly when all the bar’s employees, including her, transform into vampires and vile creatures intent upon eating consuming everyone in sight.
Dracula 2000
Gerard Butler brings Count Dracula back from the dead in this campy, mall goth version of the classic tale. After he’s accidentally woken up by a group of thieves, Dracula travels to New Orleans where he hopes to track down the daughter of his sworn enemy, Van Helsing.
About half of the movie’s action takes place in a Virgin Megastore. Otherwise, Dracula stalks the New Orleans street around the store in a leather duster and boots, bringing with him the kind of dark, Hot Topic-inspired magnetism anyone who was a teenager around the turn of the last century can appreciate.
